Passage of Time
by alucard521
Summary: Kagome has gone back to her time unwilling to give up her future for the past. With the well no longer working Inuyasha is determined to survive through the years in order to see her again.


_**Warning: Characters in this story are OC. If this bothers you, don't read. There are also some historical facts here that might not be completly accurate so I apologize in advace. If you make me aware of the mistakes I can fix them. Constructive cristism welcome. **_

_"I'm sorry Inuyasha. I don't belong in this era. Now that Naraku has been defeated and the shikon jewel has been distroyed there's no reason for me to be here."_

_"No! Isn't being with me an eveyone else reason enough? "_

_Kagome shook her head sadly, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. _

_"I'd love to stay with you guys. But... I-I don't think I can handle this. I don't think I can take getting old and you-!"_

_She couldn't say the rest. Inuyaha grabbed her shoulders and pulled her towards him, hugging her tightly. Kagome pressed her face in the crook of his neck and let her tears soak into his robe. _

_"You won't have to grow old alone. We'll figure somethin' out! I can still try to become human... I just want to be with you..."_

_Kagome pushed Inuyahsa away and turned to face the well angryly wiping the tears off her face. _

_"And then what! We'll waste time trying to turn you human while I still age. By the time we see that there's nothing we can do, it'll be to late and we'd have wated time looking for something that just can't be done! And the result would be the same... This will be the last time you'll see me. Goodbye Inuyasha. It's best if you just forget all about me." _

_With those final words Kagome jumped down the well. _

_"NO!" Inuyasha cried. He rushed after her, jumping into the well reaching out for her. HIs fingers brushed against her hair as that dissapeared in a flash of blue light. But he was too late. The floor of the well had turned to dirt as soon as he reached the bottom. _

_"KAGOME! I'LL WAIT FOR YOU! AS MANY YEARS AS IT TAKES, I'LL SEE YOU AGAIN!" Pressing his forehead against the dirt, he pounded his fist on the ground, tears forming a muddy puddle by his eyes. _

_And that is where he stayed for the next few days. _

YEAR 1555: 10 days after kagome left

*(will be referred to as a.k.l.)

Inuyasha avoided contact with his friends after Kagome left, not wanting them to witness his grief. The first four days he had spent his time curled up at the bottom of the well. Shippo, Sango and Miroku visted him occasionally trying to get him to come out. By the fith day Inuyahsa grew angry at himself, ashamed of his friends witnessing his distress. When Shippo went to bring Inuyahsa some apples that afternoon he was no longer there.

Angry at the fact that Kagome would rather live her short life away from him instead of sharing precious moments togther with the limited time she was granted as a human, he grew resentful. Who cared if she grew old while he aged slowly? She would've always looked beutiful to him.

Aging was not a malody but a sign of wisdom gained. The fact that humans could live a full life and learn and mature so much from a mere 50 to 100 years astounded him when through the same course of years he himself would stay the same and not have learned as much or lived as fully. But he would've with Kagome. He would've learned so much... 100 years with her would have been equivilant to 1000 years by himself. He would've lived a full life with her. He could've...

Four days he was angry at Kagome for the life she had given up with him. By the eight day, he gave up his anger and replaced it with melancholy and what-ifs.

What if she had just used the jewel and wished for him to become human before she wished it destroyed? Why hadn't she thought of that? Had she, even then, decided that she was going to leave him?

What if he had just noticed sooner what kagome had intended to do? He would have jumped through the well and waited for her on the other side so that when she jumped through after not having been able to find him, he would be there and trapped in her time with her.

Or what if he had just held her tighter when she was crying? She wouldn't have been able to push him away. Maybe he could've convinced her to stay.

Exactly ten days after Kagome left and Inuyasha was still brooding over Kagome. He didn't hear Shippo calling his name till the fox kit was standing right below the branch of the sacred tree that inuyasha was currently resting on.

"Inuyasha! Please hurry! Something's wrong with Sango, and Miroku and Kaede aren't here!"

Not wasting any time, Inuyasha jumped out of the tree and grabed shippo, running at full speed towards the village. He had spent to much time thinking about only himself that he completely forgot about Sango's pregnancy.

"Shippo! Why did Miroku and Kaede leave when Sango is so close to giving birth?" Asked Inuyasha as he neared the village.

"Some humans thought it would be a good idea to fight on sacred ground! Kaede and Miroku were selected by some other important human to help purify some shrine on an island!"

"Tsk. Idiots!."

A minute later Inuyasha burst inside the small shack that Miroku and Sango had been staying in since the defeat of Naraku expecting to find Sango writhing on the floor in pain. What he found instead was Sango, Kaede and Miroku sitting in a cirlce talking and sipping tea.

"My, Shippo! However did you manage to get Inuyasha to stop moping?" Kaede said as she refilled Mirokus cup with tea.

Shippo quicking jumped out of Inuyashas arms before the half-demon unfoze from his shock and hid behind Sango.

"I-I told him about you guys going to that Island and said that Sango wasn't feeling well..."

"Why Inuyasha! It's good to know that you still care." Said Sango smiling.

Having gotton over the initial shock of everything being okay, Inuyahsa slumped down beside Kaede and accepted the cup of tea she offered him.

Glaring at Shippo he murmered: "When Shippo stops hiding behind you I'll show him what lies like that get you. "

"While Shippo's half-truth was a bit drastic it was nessesary. You've been avoiding us for days!" Said Kaede, reaching behind Sango to give Shippo a reasuring pat on the head.

Miroku nodded his head at Kaedes words and chose to voice his thoughts too.

"I know you are sad about Kagome leaving us so suddenly but you must remember that we all feel the same and we cannot stop living our lives. You will always have us as friends and you will have our children and our children's children to care for. "

"And it's not like we'll never see her again!" Interjected Shippo poking his head out from behind Sango. "Us demons can easyly live to be over 3000 years old. Even if you are a half-demon you'll still live a long time! You just gotta wait a bit is all. "

Inuyasha felt ashamed upon hearing Shippos words. Here he was moping about Kagomes departure when he could live long enough to see her , Sango and Kaede had more reason to be sad about Kagomes departure because they could not do the same. And a true testament of his love for Kagome would be to survive all the years in between their separration. It helped to think that somewhere in the future she was waiting for him too.

"While I ain't gonna be happy that she's gone I'll try to cheer up a bit. " Sighed Inuyasha.

"I'm glad you've realized that. But I must inform you now that Shippo did not completly lie." Miroku said, his face becoming serious. "Myself and Lady Kaede have been summond to Miyajima Island to purify the shrine there by a warlord called Mori Motonari. He has defeated the Otonari clan that once resided there but the battle has desecrated that sacred land. We must head out to the island as soon as possible and that is why we have needed you back. As you know, Sango is to give birth soon. I cannot leave her here alone unless I know that you will be able to protect her while Lady Kaede and I are gone. "

"Let that Mori guy purify the shrine himself! If he didn't wanna have demons swarming he shouldn't have fought there in the first place! Why do you hafta leave Sango when she's about to burst out babies? Do you really wanna miss that? "

"We have no choice but to go. Mori Motonari is a very powerful man with many under his command. If we fail to go, who knows what he'd do." Miroku looked at Sango sadly. "Though I do not like Sango giving birth while I'm absent, my leaving is unavoidable."

"Keh. I can handle him!"

"It is true that you may be able to physically overpower him and his army but he has a lot of human followers. One thing you must learn is that, like sticks or hair, the more us humans band together the stronger we become. " said Kaede, eyes sparkling with pride for her fellow mortals.

"Yes," interjected Miroku. "You demons are all mostly loners. It's no wonder that we humans are growing stronger in numbers while there are less and less demons every year. Why in Kagome's time demons are but myths! "

"You guys have gone comletely off track." sighed Sango. "The whole point of this discussion is that they want you to babysit me while they're off purifying the stupid shrine. I don't understand why I can't just tag along. I am a demon slayer. And if Inuyasha comes along then it would be the same thing as staying here anyway."


End file.
